Phase I vs. Transaction Screen

The handbook has no copy of ASTM E1528, the transaction screen practice, and this page does not describe its procedures. What the handbook's sources say about it is short. The Phase I standard's nonmandatory legal appendix says that since the 2002 amendments to CERCLA and the adoption of the All Appropriate Inquiries rule, an E1528 screen no longer meets the requirement on which the CERCLA landowner liability protections depend, though E1528 may still serve as a screening tool in transactions (E1527-21, Appendix X1 introduction). The nonmandatory legal appendix of the forestland and rural property standard says the same (E2247-23, Appendix X1 introduction). The rule itself names the industry standards that may be used to comply with it, and E1528 is not one of them (40 CFR 312.11).

What the federal inquiry rule names

The All Appropriate Inquiries rule, 40 CFR part 312, sets out how all appropriate inquiries are to be made. It applies to persons seeking the innocent landowner defense, the bona fide prospective purchaser protection or the contiguous property owner protection, and to site assessments paid for with certain CERCLA brownfields grants (40 CFR 312.1). Its section on industry standards opens with this sentence: "The following industry standards may be used to comply with the requirements set forth in §§ 312.23 through 312.31" (40 CFR 312.11). It then names four:

ASTM E1527-21, the Phase I practice;
ASTM E2247-23, the Phase I practice for forestland and rural property;
ASTM E1527-13, until February 13, 2024;
ASTM E2247-16, until June 24, 2025.

Both end dates have passed, so the standards the list still names are E1527-21 and E2247-23 (40 CFR 312.11). The list says these standards may be used. The requirements they serve are the rule's own, set out in 40 CFR 312.20 to 312.31.

What the Phase I standard says about E1528

E1527-21 mentions E1528 in one place, the introduction to its legal appendix, summarized above. That appendix is nonmandatory. It says it gives background only, does not change the meaning of the practice, and gives way to the practice wherever the two disagree; it also says EPA took no part in writing it (E1527-21, Appendix X1 introduction). The same introduction says EPA has indicated that E1527 is consistent with the rule and may be used to comply with it (E1527-21, Appendix X1 introduction).

E1527-21 does allow, in its own terms, for an inquiry short of all appropriate inquiries. At the user's option, an environmental site assessment may go further than all appropriate inquiries or, where the user has no interest in the landowner liability protections, less far (E1527-21, 3.2.31). The standard does not say what such a lesser inquiry is called or what it holds.

What a Phase I under E1527-21 is

Its question. The goal is to identify recognized environmental conditions: hazardous substances or petroleum products that a release has left at the subject property, that are likely there from a release, whether known or likely, or that are present in circumstances posing a material threat of a future environmental release. A de minimis condition is not one (E1527-21, 1.1.1).
Its purpose. It sets out good commercial and customary practice for assessing commercial real estate for the substances within CERCLA's scope and for petroleum products, and it is meant to let a user satisfy one requirement of the three landowner liability protections, all appropriate inquiries (E1527-21, 1.1). Its use is not limited to that purpose (E1527-21, 4.1, 4.2.1).
Who does it. An environmental professional, meeting the rule's definition, conducts it or supervises it, and reviews and interprets the information behind the findings, opinions and conclusions (E1527-21, 3.2.30, 7.5.1).
Its parts. The user's own tasks, physical setting sources, government records, historical records, a site reconnaissance, interviews with owners, operators and occupants, interviews with local government officials, and an evaluation and report (E1527-21, 7.2). Government record sources that are reasonably ascertainable are searched out to approximate minimum distances the standard sets for each, which the environmental professional may adjust within its limits (E1527-21, 8.1.2.1, 8.1.4, 8.2.2). The subject property's obvious uses are traced back to its first developed use or to 1940, whichever is earlier, using the standard historical sources that are reasonably ascertainable and likely to help; if they run out before that point, the report records a data failure (E1527-21, 8.3.6, 8.3.8).
No sampling. It includes no testing or sampling of soil, water, air or building materials (E1527-21, 7.4).
The report. It has Findings, the environmental professional's opinions with their rationale, and Conclusions that list every recognized environmental condition, controlled ones included, and every significant data gap (E1527-21, 12.5 to 12.7). It carries the two declarations the rule requires, and the environmental professional signs it (E1527-21, 12.13, 12.14; 40 CFR 312.21).
How long it holds. Five parts of the work may be no more than 180 days old at acquisition, counted from when each was done or last updated, and the rest of the inquiry no more than one year (E1527-21, 4.6.2, 4.6.3; 40 CFR 312.20).

What this page leaves out

The handbook does not describe E1528's own procedures: who performs a screen, what it asks, what records it covers or what its result says. The handbook has no copy of E1528, and nothing on this page compares the two practices task by task. What SBA requires of a transaction screen for its loans is a separate matter, set out on the SBA transaction screen page from SBA's own rules.

This page is general reference. It does not assess any property. ASTM E1527-21 and ASTM E2247-23 are the standards and are not reproduced here.